How will we know if Jesse Minter is doing a good job?

They won’t kickoff until September but what are the early signs of “success” for the new Baltimore Ravens head coach and his youthful staff? Luke Jones joins Nestor to discuss the expectations of a rookie leader and what’s going on behind the scenes in Owings Mills with the Lamar Jackson re-negotiations and Indy combine realities of Eric DeCosta.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the expectations for new Ravens head coach Jesse Minter and his relationship with Lamar Jackson. They highlighted the importance of Minter’s media interactions and his ability to build relationships with players, particularly defensive players. The conversation emphasized the need for Minter to establish his own identity separate from John Harbaugh while maintaining a strong defensive focus. They also noted the significance of Lamar Jackson’s participation in OTAs and the potential impact of his contract situation on the team’s offseason plans. The discussion concluded with the importance of Minter’s early success in operational aspects like play execution and player relationships.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Organize and run the Maryland crab cake tour events starting next Wednesday, including a pre-lunch at Gertrude, a stop at Costas in Dundalk on Friday the 6th, and an appearance at Missonis in Perry Hall on Tuesday, March 10; confirm locations, schedule, and promotion
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Write and send letters in March to Jesse Minter, John Harbaugh, Craig Albernaz, Michael Elias, Katie Griggs, and David Rubenstein

Maryland Crab Cake Tour and Upcoming Events

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the Maryland crab cake tour, starting with a pre-lunch meeting at Gertrude with an old boss.
• Upcoming events include a talk at Costas in Dundalk on Friday, March 6, and a session at Missoni’s in Perry Hall on Tuesday, March 10.
• Nestor mentions the history of various individuals involved in Orioles broadcasting, including Greg Missoni and John Zeman.
• Luke Jones joins the conversation, mentioning their recent activities, including the Colton Cowser center field event and the West Bergen holiday injury.

Introduction of New Head Coach Jesse Minter

• Nestor and Luke discuss the upcoming national media attention for Jesse Minter, who is expected to face more big-picture questions.
• Luke notes that Eric DeCosta is also scheduled to speak in Indianapolis, and questions about the roster are expected to increase.
• The conversation shifts to the importance of the roster, with Luke highlighting the need for improvements in free agency and the draft.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the significance of Jesse Minter’s media interactions and his current anonymity compared to John Harbaugh.

Eric DeCosta’s Role and Roster Questions

• Nestor and Luke discuss Eric DeCosta’s role in roster decisions, noting that he has not had a record as General Manager.
• The conversation touches on the importance of Jesse Minter’s media interactions and his current anonymity compared to John Harbaugh.
• Nestor mentions the potential for Jesse Minter to face more scrutiny once he becomes more famous for winning or losing.
• The discussion includes the impact of Lamar Jackson’s contract situation on the team’s offseason plans.

Jesse Minter’s Leadership and Relationship with Lamar Jackson

• Nestor and Luke discuss the expectations for Jesse Minter, emphasizing the need for him to win playoff games and lead the team effectively.
• The conversation highlights the importance of Jesse Minter’s relationship with Lamar Jackson and the need for Lamar to be on board with the new coaching staff.
• Luke emphasizes the need for Jesse Minter to be genuine and not try to be exactly like John Harbaugh.
• The discussion includes the challenges of building relationships with the entire roster, especially with defensive players.

Challenges of a New Coaching Staff

• Nestor and Luke discuss the challenges of a new coaching staff, including the need for Jesse Minter to find his own style.
• The conversation touches on the importance of the offseason program and the need for the coaching staff to be familiar with the roster.
• Luke highlights the differences between Jesse Minter and John Harbaugh, noting that Jesse Minter is a strong defensive-minded coach.
• The discussion includes the need for Jesse Minter to build relationships with all players, not just defensive ones.

Impact of Lamar Jackson’s Contract on the Team

• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of Lamar Jackson’s contract situation on the team’s offseason plans.
• The conversation highlights the importance of Lamar Jackson’s participation in OTAs and the need for him to be on board with the new coaching staff.
• Luke emphasizes the need for a good relationship between Lamar Jackson and Jesse Minter for the team’s success.
• The discussion includes the potential for Lamar Jackson to restructure his contract and the impact of his decision on the team’s cap space.

Preparation for the 2026 Season

• Nestor and Luke discuss the preparation for the 2026 season, emphasizing the importance of the offseason program.
• The conversation highlights the need for Jesse Minter to find his own style and build relationships with the entire roster.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of Lamar Jackson’s participation in OTAs and the need for him to be on board with the new coaching staff.
• The discussion includes the potential challenges of a new coaching staff and the need for a smooth operation in week one.

John Harbaugh’s Departure and Its Impact

• Nestor and Luke discuss John Harbaugh’s departure and its impact on the team.
• The conversation highlights the need for a fresh start with Jesse Minter and the new coaching staff.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of a new voice and a different approach for the team.
• The discussion includes the potential challenges of a new coaching staff and the need for a smooth operation in week one.

Building a New Team Culture

• Nestor and Luke discuss the need to build a new team culture with Jesse Minter and the new coaching staff.
• The conversation highlights the importance of Lamar Jackson’s participation in OTAs and the need for him to be on board with the new coaching staff.
• Luke emphasizes the need for a good relationship between Lamar Jackson and Jesse Minter for the team’s success.
• The discussion includes the potential challenges of a new coaching staff and the need for a smooth operation in week one.

Final Thoughts and Expectations

• Nestor and Luke discuss their final thoughts and expectations for the new coaching staff and the upcoming season.
• The conversation highlights the importance of Lamar Jackson’s participation in OTAs and the need for him to be on board with the new coaching staff.
• Luke emphasizes the need for a good relationship between Lamar Jackson and Jesse Minter for the team’s success.
• The discussion includes the potential challenges of a new coaching staff and the need for a smooth operation in week one.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Jesse Minter, Lamar Jackson, new head coach, roster questions, Eric DeCosta, John Harbaugh, offseason program, defensive minded, coaching staff, OTAs, player relationships, contract negotiations, playoff games, leadership, Baltimore Ravens.

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SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive. 27 and a half years into this thing. Hence the 27 out on our YouTube and social media. So if you’re following along, we appreciate it. We’re going to be doing the Maryland crab cake tour, getting it back revved up. Beginning next Wednesday. Got some new locations too, which I’m excited about for sure. On Wednesday we, we we go back to some old friends. We’re going to be back at Gertrude. That’s a that’s a family joint over at the BMA. It’s gonna be fantastic there. I’m actually having a pre lunch with an old boss of mine at Gertrude. I’m making a real lunch, and then we’re gonna sit down and talk about 1966 in Baltimore and the Orioles and all sorts of things. On Friday the sixth, we’re going to be at Costas and Dundalk talking about the Orioles and all sorts of things. And then on the 10th of March, on Tuesday, we’ll be at missonis at Perry Hall. A lot of folks don’t know Greg Missoni, Dundalk guy, but worked for Governor Ehrlich for a long time. But before that, executive producer for all things Oriole baseball, when Chuck and Brooks and Scotty will go down to Arlington, have those nachos. Greg Masoni was the producer for Oriole baseball channel two back in the day. So John Zeman, a bunch of other people at Channel Two. Keith Mills, Mike gathigan, Jimmy Hawes, where I had my internship. Mary Beth Marsden, back in the day. So God bless York Road. But nonetheless, on Tuesday, we’ll be on Bel Air road at missones and Perry Hall. Luke Jones joins us now. We’ve done some baseball. We’ve done some more baseball. We’ve done the Colton cowser center field thing. We’ve done the West Bergen holiday injury thing. You and I would be in Indianapolis this week, if the Orioles didn’t ban me from going to Sarasota this week, and when I offered it to you, Nick, you’ve been to both. And I don’t know the drinks are better in Indianapolis, certainly, and it does more damage to our liver, and the weather’s never good. But Sarasota, Indianapolis, we could be either way. Instead, we’re here with like, six inches of snow in Baltimore and talking some football, a new coach for all the national media to descend the pond, and certainly not a new experience for Jesse Minter, I think he’s been to Indianapolis a few February’s.

Luke Jones  02:11

Yeah, I think it’s safe to say that. And he’s certainly going to be a person of greater interest at this point in time. I can already envision there are going to be national reporters asking him more big picture things. When I think anyone that’s covering the ravens are going to want to ask about the roster a little more. I think one thing that’s interesting, and I was just thinking about this, not so much about mentor. But Eric DaCosta also scheduled to talk on Tuesday in Indianapolis. Think about it, John Harbaugh’s fired less than 48 hours after the season comes to an end. And since then, all questions, nearly all questions, have been about the head coach search. How Lamar Jackson relates to the head coach search? And I mean, there were in the in the bashati press conference where di Costa was next to him. First of all, Eric wasn’t asked a ton of questions anyway, but the questions he was asked very, very few were actually about the roster. I mean, think about it, okay. Jesse Minter is the new head coach. We know Anthony Weaver and Declan. Doyle and Anthony Levine are the new coordinators, they now have a regular offseason to navigate, right? I mean, combine, free agency, the draft, all of that, and you need to get better. So one factor that’s fascinating, and this is where da Costa, I think, will be, it’ll be interesting to hear what he has to say, is it’s going to get roster questions finally, right? I mean, there weren’t many of those, because all the oxygen was about John Harbaugh and whoever the new head coach was going to be, when bashadi and Acosta talked in mid January, and then when they have the introductory conference for Minter, all questions for Eric to Costa at that point were about his new head coach and Lamar Jackson and anyone else’s involvement in the interview process, there has been next to nothing asked about the actual roster. So you know, we’re less than a month out on free agency, now that we’re only a few weeks away like this is right around the corner, and we haven’t heard a whole lot. So I think that’s where it’s going to be fascinating to see what he does or does not say about the likes of Tyler linderbaum And Isaiah likely, and go down the list there. Obviously there will be Lamar questions. Based on how the last few years have gone, I would expect him to say nothing about Lamar Jackson. Of consequence, he’s just not going to put that out there for public consumption, unless they very deliberately want to, which would be interesting, I guess. But I’m not expecting that. But it really just becomes now that okay, Jesse minnner Is the coach. You know, who the coaches are going to be. What about your roster? What about the players? You know? How’s that going to go? So we finally reached a point in the offseason. And where it kind of settles into being, whatever the new normal is going to be, in terms of all right, you’ve done all those things. Now. What are you going to do to go about making this roster better for 2026

Nestor Aparicio  05:12

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well, and I you know that’s dicost is going to make the roster, and Minter is going to have the record for it, like Eric Decosta doesn’t have a record, as the General Manager, John Harbaugh, carries that around. And that’s kind of the weird way. I think we all think about it. But with Jesse mentor meeting the media this week, the national media, he’s done all of 20 minutes, 30 minutes with the local people here. I don’t know if there’s been an off the record. I don’t know if that you’re allowed to tell me if there’s been an off the there’s been an Off The Record yet or not. I would think he’s fire hosing in a big way, but the media hasn’t been a big part of his thing. Explaining himself has not been a something he’s had to do. I still think if he walked around Towson mall today, most people wouldn’t know who he is. He hasn’t his face hasn’t been out there enough. I think if he shaves, you might not recognize him. He’s still in a real quiet honeymoon period of silence and anonymity that’s going to elude him once he becomes more famous for winning or losing here, where John Harbaugh’s doing Papa waves at Madison Square Garden, like he just won the Super Bowl. It’s, it’s hilarious to watch his transformation to wealthier man, bigger organization, working for Epstein files, guilty parties in the Epstein files like people who really went to the island and did stuff, not like Mr. Rubenstein, who just, you know, had meetings with a pedophile after he was a pedophile, which we don’t talk about around it because pedophile again. David Rubenstein was with a pedophile when I can’t say that. Pedophile can’t talk at the president can’t talk about that. So John Harbaugh, they’ll be talking about that in New York, and he’ll have all the heat off of him, because all the heat is going to go on to the owner being linked to a pedophile in an island and the worst story in the history of our lifetimes really so hard. Boss has got to wear my football and Papa waving. He can’t lose a game till September if he loses three out of the first four. It’s Well, I didn’t inherit much around here, and it must be the general manager, because eventually I see them both, Joe shine and him are going to speak. He’s going to outlast Joe shine there. That’s pretty odd. I mean, it’s like almost dead man walking. So that’s kind of a weird thing. Meanwhile, mentor, new money, fresh money, I got Lamar. Let’s get Lamar. Do we have Lamar? I think all the questions need to be about Lamar. But assuming Lamar is on board, assuming they’re going to get that done, and they better get that done in the next two weeks, right? That’s the pressure. Ratchets it up, and that’s nothing about Minter. That’s all about the cost, and it’s all about Lamar and his mom and his agent himself. All of this works out. What was wrong with John Harbaugh, that Jesse Minter needs to be better at Luke like, what are our expectations of Jesse Minter, other than you better win two playoff games in January. At the very, very least. You better at least play in a championship game or work really hard. I mean this, you’re so far off on that so many things have to happen for him to be measured in that way, as being a successful January coach to measure up to whatever we think of hardball. Who doesn’t need to be that guy in New York this time around. But I think that the expectations for Jesse Minter in year one. First expectation is me, tell me where Lamar is. Like, I need to know where Lamar is by a week from Monday, right? Like, literally, like, this is getting more hardcore, about $40 million worth of cap space for Eric to Costa to operate, to get Jesse Minter better football players. But I still think there’s a point. No matter how this works out, Jesse Minter has to do certain things better than John Harbaugh did them. I don’t know exactly what they are, and I guess I’m trying to evaluate that here, as the Giants think they have a Savior and a franchise guy, and they put his name on the building, and he’s doing Papa waves at Knicks games, where Jesse Minter is still completely anonymous here. Doesn’t know if he has his quarterback is going out to Indianapolis to try to improve the football team, but I don’t know what we have to get out of Jesse Minter, other than he’s got to win playoff games at Jay I just these first steps of leadership, owning it not being too big for him, meeting players, none of that gets evaluated at all by you and I, because they’re not playing until September 8, either right? Like, literally nothing good or bad is going to happen for for management until that point I don’t, unless Lamar wants out of here next week and then all hell breaks loose.

Luke Jones  09:45

Yeah. I mean, first of all, I think it’s important not to view it through the lens of reinventing the wheel. It’s not like John Harbaugh was a horrendous coach, despite what people want to say. Was it time? Yeah. But they also they didn’t have a track record that the Giants did over the last decade, which is why the giants are so excited to hire someone like that, quite frankly. But I think what’s important for for Jesse Minter, and it’s, I think a lot of this is not to it’s to be genuine. It’s to not try to be exactly like John Harbaugh. But I think on the flip side of that, it’s also to not be completely different from him, because you feel some need to be completely different from him either. I think you have to be yourself. I think inherently, there are going to be differences, because he’s much younger. You know, there are way different points in their lives. There are way different points in their coaching lives, right? The comparison would be more apropos, if you’re talking about Jesse Minter compared to what John Harbaugh was in 2008 right? I think that’s probably the the more interesting comparison, if we wanted to compare. But he’s got a obviously, the the first things done, he’s hired a coaching staff. Eric to Costa was helping him in that process, right? We know that. I mean, that’s how it would always work. He hired people that he’s familiar with, but also hired people he’s not as familiar with, and has a an interesting mix of, you know, trends younger, but has some experienced coaches on his staff as well. Some that are in came from college backgrounds, some coach in the NFL. So you have all that done now. It’s in place where you’re trying to they talked about this last week, it’s a sprint to be ready for April 6, when they start the offseason program. In terms of you want this entire coaching staff to have a good feel for everyone that’s on the roster. That’s not to say that you have completely, you know, like, made up your mind whether guys can play or not, but you want to be as familiar as you can. And then when those guys come in, you start building relationships. You start expressing what you’re going to bring to the table. You know, one way that that Jesse Minter is inherently going to be way different from John Harbaugh, other than the fact that he’s younger, is this is a strong, defensive minded head coach rather than a CEO special teams head coach, right? So I think Jesse Minter inherently, it’s going to be easier for him to build relationships, probably, with the defensive guys, but I think that’s got that has to be something that he’s aware of, that that can’t become a detrimental bias for him in terms of he’s got to build a relationship for with everyone. And to your point, it does begin with the quarterback, so you have to do those things. But you know, to bring it back to the comparison to John Harbaugh, and again, like I said, I think it’s one of those things that it’s interesting, but I don’t think you can dwell on it too much, because I think a lot of this was just needing to reset a little bit. I think everyone was kind of everyone from horrible on down. Think everyone was kind of just beaten down by what had happened the last several years in terms of all this regular season success and then not having that success in January. And obviously, 25 was a different you know, this past year was a different story. Because, you know, it started right away. You know, I saw over the weekend NFL Network show they showed the buffalo ravens week one game, because it’s one of the best games of the regular season for the NFL. And just watching that one of my big takeaways, and this is going to sound a little bit like what I said with Craig Albernaz talking about, you know, comparison to Brandon Hyde and what the Orioles look like early last year. Go back and watch that week one game, even as the as the Ravens were winning by two scores with under five minutes ago, just a lot of sloppy, foolish things that were done in that in that football game that you say, same way that I said coming out of spring training, same way coming out of training camp, and just sloppy things, you know, things that just didn’t look good there, that were, frankly, a poor reflection on everybody, but to point to the coaching staff over so, you know,

Nestor Aparicio  14:07

seasons become a joke, like they don’t play, they don’t work, they don’t two a day, I heard flack coach, they’re not ready, and that’s one thing for mentor with this group and with Lamar is getting the extra time as the Early Head Coach. I don’t know what you do to maximize that or really leverage that in this early going part of this, but you don’t get that in August, and you don’t get more preseason games, and you don’t want to play your starters, although you think maybe he’ll be on the Tomlin side of I’m going to get my guys playing time in a way that John did, and John was freaked out, I think by how many ripped up knees he had three four years ago that destroyed his team, destroyed their chances in the preseason, especially the running game, that like getting the work in and getting guys hurt and having extra time, I’m not making. Uses for John in that but I think the whole League’s a disaster in week one. It just is right, because they’re not, they’re not ready to play in the way that maybe they used to be 15 years ago. And maybe, if that’s Get off my lawn thing, it is, but that’s throughout the league. It’s it’s way sloppy or earlier. It has been the last decade

Luke Jones  15:20

to a point, but not everyone started one in five last year. You know? I mean, I mean, no, it’s just, it’s just real, like you’ve got to figure out how to combat that. Because every Okay, I agree, but that doesn’t mean that you have a greater excuse to start one in five than anyone else. You know what I mean, like you’ve got to figure out the best, best way to offset that.

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Nestor Aparicio  15:39

You keep reminding me that they were one in five. They were one in five. I mean,

Luke Jones  15:42

and they were one in three, they were on their way to one in three before the injuries got ridiculous, right? I mean, they had no shot against the Texans. They had no shot against the Rams. I mean, the funny thing is, they actually would have had a shot against the Rams if they had played Tyler Huntley rather than Cooper rush. They had no shot against the Texans. I mean, go look at the inactive list that day. They had no shot. But, you know the lions game, you know they weren’t okay. I get it. They were missing Kyle van Noy and Matt abigay, but, like, they were intact Other than that, like, what? So you lose one or two players and you have every, every excuse to not to win games. I mean, so I hear what you’re saying, but you’ve got to figure that out, because there have been other teams that get off to really good starts every year, you know? I mean, the Ravens have trended like the Bengals the last couple years, right? I mean, one thing you can say about Zach Taylor, their teams, even years where they’ve rebounded to be pretty good, they don’t get off to good starts. I mean, the Ravens got to figure that out, like gotten off to a bad start each of the last two years. I mean, that’s that that puts you in a hole. I mean, this year was more extreme than the year before, but think about it. They started owing to the year before, and that ended up proving to be the difference between going to Orchard Park compared to the bills coming to Baltimore in the divisional round two years ago. Makes a difference. It absolutely does. So they’ve got to figure that out. For Jesse Minter and the new coaching staff specifically, you’ve got to find that, you know, like, I don’t, I don’t know if there’s, like, any magic formula, because it’s different for every team. I mean, we’ve talked about this like Andy Reid over the years, has played the like the starters in the preseason, whereas Sean McVay has not played his starters in the preseason. Who is better? Well, the chiefs have won Super Bowls, but the Rams won a Super Bowl, right? So you can kind of go through the list. There’s not like some definitive playbook on how to handle all this, and that’s it’s part of what Minter is going to have to figure out and find himself as a as a head coach is what exactly works? Yeah, he’s going to take elements of the John Harbaugh playbook and the Jim Harbaugh playbook and the mike McDonald playbook. And I don’t mean playbook in terms of literal offensive play or defensive plays. I mean in the way they handle things, because that’s how you learned. You know, that’s who you’ve worked with, but that said, that’s where I’ve made the point that Minter is going to have to find himself in the sense that what works for him, that John Harbaugh did, or Jim Harbaugh did, or Mike McDonald did, and what isn’t going to work that he’s going to have to do things differently just because he’s a different personality than those guys, right? That’s why

Nestor Aparicio  18:22

you mentioned attention to detail, right? I mean, John horrible has been doing this and look, you were school teacher. A lot of folks don’t know that about you, but I would think the fourth or fifth year you were a school teacher was a lot different than first year of curriculum and how you’re going to put it together, right? And mentor, much like John. When John got the job in 2008 had a book that said, when I’m a head coach, this is what I’m going to do. Minter has been putting that deal together since his dad was a head coach in Cincinnati 30 years ago. So the notion of how he wants to do it, and how he wants his program to be, and what parts he pulls from, either the hardball brothers or his father, or anything else he’s seen done around the league, some tip Joe Ortiz gave him out in LA or whatever, that that part of it would be in week one, lapses in getting the defense in on time, the that that monkey couldn’t get a play in the Lamar and he had to burn a Time Out against buffalo, whatever, the sloppiness in the operation. And you and I spent a lot of time discussing operation around here on Monday mornings when things weren’t operating, clock red flags, timeouts, misalignments, blown assignments, 10 guys on the field, 12 guys on the field, guys getting trapped on the field, guys running the wrong way in the backfield because they didn’t hear snap count, all of these things that get blamed on the coach. I don’t know how you coach that up in February or March or April, dude, but I just know there’s a level of preparedness. This that John’s troops sort of felt a little sloppy toward the end, and the Giants folks won’t see that because he’s sitting up straight wearing a perfect red pocket Republican tie so he can sit next to Trump again with his buddy Tish, that there’s going to be more attention, and John would be the first one to say it, New place, new office, new people, new excitement, new girls, new boys, new players, new depth chart, new scouts, new new NY logo and red, white and blue. He gets to walk around. I mean, Congratulations, coach, you’re the highest 100 million huh, John, good job, buddy, you’re buying drinks tonight in Indy, like there’s a whole thing for John that’s fresh air for him. I wonder what the fresh air is here, because I don’t know the air of mentor. You know what I mean? I don’t know where those signatures are going to be. All I know is one two press conferences that felt harboring into me, where not a lot was said, and to the point where, you know, the offensive coordinator pointed out that Lamar might want to be around a little bit more. That’s sort of the head coach’s job to be the hard ass. I don’t know John took a hard ass with me when he’s texting me things that apparently he didn’t say to Lamar, because I have text in my phone from John arball about his quarterback that I wonder if he said to Lamar, you know, you’re the leader, and we’re like practicing out here, and everybody’s sweating. You might not want to be on Twitter on a Friday, tweeting from your ball camp in Florida when, when your teammates are on the field, you’re all working. 94% of them that never there was a synapse with Lamar, in regard to that still is. And the synapse gets bigger when you have 200 million, 300 million, and you have leverage. And Lamar likes leverage. He hadn’t had it much in his life, to be really honest. I mean, when I think of Lamar, he’s a poor kid, and he was always overlooked. He was always he’s going to be the wide receiver, going to be the running back. He wears all of that. This is his leverage time these two weeks, or his leverage time to get what he wants, whatever he wants. He’s gotten a lot of what He’s wanted in recent times. Getting used to it. Got the coach fired. And I don’t think John’s upset about that. I mean, I didn’t get the vibe that.

Luke Jones  22:19

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I think it’s a little disingenuous to say Lamar Jackson got the coach fired. I mean, I Steve bashati. I think that was happening. I did.

Nestor Aparicio  22:29

Lamar Jack. Relationship fell apart at the end. If I’m if I’m not, but if I do more

Luke Jones  22:34

recently, made it sound like Lamar like

Nestor Aparicio  22:38

is a new coach now that he better like better than he liked John enough to get in the building and do all these things that the 29 year old offensive coordinators talked about last week. So at some point, like, we’re always on the prick to Lamar, and you’re, you’re, you’re the softer landing for Lamar. But the head coach was not a softer landing. He got fired because of it. Now he got promoted, really. I mean, I’m not gonna sit here and cry for John, who got $100 million do million dollars. John got a way better situation, and as John was Papa waving at Madison Square Garden the other night, I think he’ll take his chances with Jackson Dart because he couldn’t get Lamar to practice in March, April, May and June, like he just couldn’t. He was so angry about it that he texted me for real. So I don’t think that that’s an unhappy separation and that Lamar needed fresh blood, fresh this, but to your point, you loved monkey because monk and got the best out of Lamar. But I’m not sure that that was a relationship. And I don’t know what a relationship he’s in even is for Lamar, you give Lamar what he wants, and he doesn’t play well. Is that a good relationship? I don’t know. I mean, Lamar wanted Hollywood brown to stick around right like, look, they signed Mark Andrews last year, and you and I are still scratching our heads about that, because the thought was that Lamar works well with him. Lamar, Lam, Lamar, Lamar, it’s like Marsha Marsha Marsha Marsha. Well, if I’m gonna grade Jesse Minter on anything, first thing is, is Lamar in the boat? Are we going to have signed in two weeks? Is it going to Kumbaya? And is he going to be here, and is he going to do everything the coaches want him to do, not everything that the NFL Players Association tells him he must do? And dude, he’s a $75 million quarterback because we sit here somewhere in the mid 60s that they need to figure this out. And he’s not the only thing. He’s everything. He’s everything. And we haven’t heard from him, so I’d like to hear from him. Happily, I know we’re not going to hear from him. Maybe we hear from him on the IG but like, where’s he in all of this? When the offense quarter says you’re getting in the building early to me, all of this links to Jesse Minter success here in the early going, because I Jesse mentor is going to outlive Lamar here, if this works out the right way. So I’m not thinking Lamar has got to be great for Jesse Minter to survive. Lamar has to want to be in and be the best, best, best version of Lamar, the one that was throwing the touch. Down pass at the end Pittsburgh, trying to keep John’s job, because the last I checked, if the ball would have sailed center, we would have we’d have all we’d have a different narrative here. For sure, if Lamar would have gone and won a playoff game like they weren’t given that opportunity, they didn’t earn that opportunity. But to me, mentor, success is right now, he and Lamar, and where Lamar is in the next two weeks, and then all this extra practice time so that they don’t have all these issues in week one and that they have a smoother operation. I wonder where Lamar is. That’s all. I haven’t seen any I’m excited. Can’t get wait to get to work. I i was zooming with him like and that’s not lamar’s personality, but it’s also not his personality. To be out on IGC and Trade Me either. That would be between him and Mr.

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Luke Jones  25:47

Eric. Okay, yeah. I mean, I’m not sure what you’re looking for me to respond with, yeah, Jesse, mentor has to have a good relationship with Lamar. I’ve already talked about the contract. I mean, it’s either going to be an extension or it’s going to be a restructure. He’s not playing on a $74 million cap, and we saw it last week the Kansas City Chiefs with Patrick mahomes, although that deal, that’s like a long term deal that that was kind of baked in there, but you can restructure it. So the deal is going to be done in some way to lower the cap number. You can either do it in the most ideal way, which would be to lower it and to flatten out the numbers, the number for next year, and to basically add three more years onto a deal and you and under that scenario, it’s basically ironclad that Lamar Jackson your quarterback for next, at least the next three to four years. I’m interested

Nestor Aparicio  26:44

to see what Eric looks like on Tuesday, whether he’s sweating bullets or like which way his eyes move, because he’s either getting on that plane for Indianapolis, maybe not right this minute with all the snow, but getting on that plane for Indianapolis and staying at the Conrad out there and knowing that Lamar is done, or knowing he’s got some challenges. What do you think?

Luke Jones  27:04

I mean, I don’t think it’s I think if it’s done, it’d be out there that it’s done. I mean, it’s not something that they’re going to hide if it’s done. So reality is, it’s an issue until it’s not. I mean, I’m not going to sit here and say that’s a formality. The only formality is that he’s not going to be playing on a $74.5 million cap number, because they have you can restructure it. Now the problem is, as I alluded to last week, if you do go the simple restructure route, yes, you can lower that number down to about where it was last year, probably not quite that low. But then the problem is, now his cap number next year is, I don’t know, 90 million or something like that, whereas then next year, the leverage Lamar has, you know, you think he has leverage. Now, if he goes out and has a good 2026 then he has every piece of leverage you could possibly imagine. And he’s only a year out from free agency then, and at that point, you ask the question, okay, is he totally bought in on mentor, on Declan, Doyle, on everything that’s happening, or at that point, does He say, I’ll wait it out another year, and you know, we can, we’ll do what we have to do to restructure the deal, and I’m going to become a free agent? Or does he have a not so great year and he’s injured again, and then suddenly you’re having a different conversation as an organization, so that that’s but the ideal scenario for both sides is absolutely for him to get an extension done. Here he gets another bite at the apple of lucrative money. He can become the highest paid quarterback in the league again, because it’s his turn and for the ravens, then you can, you don’t have to worry about the contract for the next two, three years, right? You know, you’re kind of back to where you were in 2023 and then you can go about building the roster in a more efficient way. So, so there’s that, but, yeah, you know, but that’s all to Costa. You know, Jesse, mentor has nothing to do with that, other than, I suppose. It’s very simple, is Lamar happy with the higher, right? If he’s happy with the higher, if he’s happy with the Declan Doyle hire, if he is, that leads you to believe he’s more inclined to work out an extension, and more motivated to work out an extension, because that means that they can give, you know, everyone can give the best possible, you know, best possible position to win. So beyond that, you know, for what, Jesse mentor, you know, it’s there’s only so much building of the relationship you’re doing right now. Coaches aren’t really supposed to be in that much contact with players right now. Are their texts being exchanged?

Nestor Aparicio  29:34

8

Sure, each other too. That’s another part of it. They do. That’s a benefit.

Luke Jones  29:37

They it is, although, from what I’ve gathered, I mean, it’s about as the relationship was about as remarkable as you’d expect. A lower level defensive assistant and the starting quarterback, they were on the same plane every week. They knew each other by name. They had some conversations, but like, there’s no from what I understand now, unless people that I’ve talked. Were lying about this. I don’t think we’re going to get some story that Lamar Jackson and Jesse Minter secretly had breakfast three days a week and like, they were these great friends, or like, there’s no like, like, special sauce to this.

Nestor Aparicio  30:14

There was no special sauce to think Jesse Minter would ever be the head coach of the Ravens. And I think the Costa acknowledged that.

Luke Jones  30:19

Yeah, exactly. And that’s not a knock on Jesse. It’s a compliment to the work he’s put in on himself over the last seven or eight years, right from where he was in 2017 when he arrived, to what he is nine years later as the head coach, you know, having gone off and gone to Vanderbilt and gone to Michigan and gone to the chargers and worked with Jim Harbaugh, right? So, so there’s all of that, but, but, you know, as far as that, the rest of that piece, I mean, it’s just, it’s built a partnership like, I don’t think John Harbaugh and Lamar had this terrible relationship for years or anything like that. I think, I think John made the best of it, and

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Nestor Aparicio  31:00

John didn’t get what he wanted. He got whatever Lamar was willing to give but, but it was good enough to win three MVPs,

Luke Jones  31:08

and that’s and look, I’m also not going to sit here and say that because Lamar Jackson didn’t attend an OT, you know, two or three weeks of OTAs in May, that that’s the reason why they lost in Buffalo.

Nestor Aparicio  31:20

Did never get what he wanted out of LT, but he won championships, you know, like, and it doesn’t always, you know, kind of mine didn’t always do what Phil Jackson wanted to do.

Luke Jones  31:29

8

And that’s kind of my, and that’s kind of my point here, right? I mean, it’s such an it’s such a low hanging fruit thing. It’s why I generally don’t care as much about OTAs as you however, this year is completely different, because it is brand new, right? Brand new head coach, brand new offensive coordinator. No, that way, though, well, and if not, then, then I, then I will question, you know, dude, you say you want to win a Super Bowl, this is the year you need to be at OTAs like I’ll wholeheartedly agree with you, when John Harbaugh has been your coach for seven or eight years and you’re in year three with the same offensive coordinator and the same quarterbacks coach, you know, I should he be there? Like, that’s, that’s

Nestor Aparicio  32:14

what are you doing today? That’s more important than being with your teammates? That’s what I would ask. I know that’s what my dad would ask. I know your dad would ask, it’s all, you’re making $60 million a year, and you’re trying to win, and you don’t want that excuse when the ball sales, right? We’ve been

Luke Jones  32:28

over this. Like, No, I know. Like, but he also

Nestor Aparicio  32:33

dig it. I don’t dig it. I really and I’m on. I’m on Team hardball with this, and have been from the beginning. It’s how I got on team. Horrible. He was texting me that when I was out on Twitter, saying Lamar should be at practice today and not out on Twitter. Yeah, John agreed with me. I like that you lost your mind

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Luke Jones  32:51

about it. And any one MB or should have won MVP in 2024 So how much did it really matter? You know, like, again, I’m not going to draw that, that element, that you’d like to be better, that that’s the reason why they lose in Buffalo. You know what I mean, like, so, but this

Nestor Aparicio  33:06

year, I just think with the new coach, they need more kumbaya than they had here with John, whatever that is, whatever that is.

Luke Jones  33:11

I don’t know if it’s so much to kumbaya as much as you just like, there’s more preparation this time around. There’s way more. Like, it’s way more that i don’t i i If they’re really that flawed from a kumbaya standpoint, that’s where I question like, well, then how were they so successful in the regular season and last year not withstanding? Right? Last year aside, right? And that’s where I look at it through the lens of, I don’t know how much of it was, quote, broken under John Harbaugh, as much as years of scar tissue builds up for everybody, coaches and players and I felt what happened in Buffalo two January’s ago, now and then, what happened in Buffalo last September, which was their first opportunity to take the field in A real game after what happened in Buffalo, I honestly, I think that broke them. And, you know, that’s kind of overly simplistic, but I think everyone was just so mentally taxed at that point in time. You spend all off season hearing questions about it and thinking about it and living it, because these guys live with that 24/7, right? I get it. They’re paid handsomely. And you know, they may not always show that they care, but they care. Boy, boy, they have to care, or they wouldn’t be in the position they’re in, right? Whether they go to OTAs or not, they still care a whole lot, because if you didn’t, you wouldn’t be in that position very long, no matter how talented you are. But I just think it ran its course last year, and I think everyone was frustrated. And I think when you get into that position, everyone starts pointing the finger, even if it’s not done in an overly personal way, and maybe it’s not even pointing the finger as much as I think, everyone just starts losing trust in each other. And. I think that’s what happened. And I don’t think you know it. You know so much that’s out there. You know, lamar’s relationship with John, or lamar’s relationship with monk and or lack thereof, or offensive guys complaining about the offensive coordinator, or blah, blah, blah, you know, like all of that, it just comes back to everyone was frustrated, and everyone kind of looked at this thing, and it’s just like, how do we get out of this pattern of what keeps happening to us in January, or what keeps happening in the fourth quarter of these games, and we get back in this position? And you know what? And I saw again, there was a it was late in that Buffalo game. And I’m using this example because it was on NFL Network this weekend. And I you this weekend, and I just happened to be watching it for 10 minutes, and it was the last five minutes of the game, and it got to that last series, if you recall. You know, this wasn’t when Henry fumbled. This is when buffalo had made it. You know what a one score game, and the Ravens are trying to run the ball and control the clock. Henry gets stuffed on first down, Voorhees blows a block. Then on second down, they took Henry off the field, which I thought was not smart, but, you know, so justice hills on the field. And they, they run a little, you know, like a jet sweep, you know, end around, kind of thing to say flowers. And I happen to notice in the back, you could see the Ravens sideline was on the far side on the TV, you know, from the TV angle. And zay flowers gets tackled for a one yard loss. John Harbaugh has his hands on his knees, and ever so briefly, but long enough that you saw it, puts his head down. I’m not blaming John solely, right? This was a collective failure of these types of scenarios, these types of situations where they came up short. But when you see your leader with that kind of body language, and you’ve seen that a few too many times over the years, how do you think players feel about that? And I don’t mean that in a way that like it’s like some fatally terrible thing that Har ball did, I think that just kind of epitomized where everyone was. Because whether you’re talking about the playoffs, whether you’re talking about these fourth quarter leads, all that kind of, they just, they were all beaten down by it. And that’s why, I think, as much as anything, it’s

Nestor Aparicio  37:16

8

like their kicker missed the kick in Pittsburgh in the closed end of the end zone like that, just like, literally, a very, very poetic ending for the Harbaugh administration. Here his arm around the rookie kicker going in because they didn’t get

Luke Jones  37:31

it done. Yeah, but, but I think, but that’s where I think so much of this is not that Jesse Minter has to come in and be like the 180 polar opposite of John Harbaugh. It’s a fresh face. It’s a new voice, like literally, a different voice you’re going to hear, rather than the same cadence and way that John Harbaugh would speak, it’s going to be a different guy. He’s 2020, plus years younger, right? He’s a first time head coach. He has a different degree of expertise on the defensive side of the ball that the defensive players like Kyle Hamilton are really going to dig. They are. It’s different. It’s a reset, it’s a reboot. It’s like taking your laptop and you know, because it’s been buggy and freezing, and programs keep locking up and you you start it new, and you got a new update, right? Version two of this. And obviously it’s not version two, but, you know, it’s a refresh in that way. And it doesn’t mean that everything you did before was bad. It just means that you need some new new paint, right? You need some new bells and whistles. You need a new voice. And I think that’s what a lot of this really is. And look, it’s also going to come down to this. And we’ve talked about this a lot, and this also goes back to what I just said about Lamar Jackson needing to be there for OTAs this year specifically, you know, because it’s it’s different. This isn’t the same as OTAs last year or the year before or the year before that. It’s brand this is all brand new. In that way, it’s almost like being a rookie again, because you have a brand new ad coach and brand new offensive system and a brand new coordinator, and it’s not even team Martin as your quarterbacks coach anymore. So you have all that, but it’s that’s for everyone. So you kind of look at this thing, and if you’re Jesse Minter, that’s why I said you need to come in, and he’s, you’re right, he’s been working on this. He might even have a binder. He might even be the type A personality that has a binder of everything that you did to prepare as a head coach. And you know what he’s going to find out? They’re going to be pages out of that binder that he’s going to have to rip out and throw away because that doesn’t work, because that’s how it works for any coach, you’re not going to come in and have all the answers perfectly on day one. You’re going to find out things about your players. You’re going to find out things about the assistants you hired, even guys that you were excited to hire. You’re going to find out that some of them, that guy kind of has a blind spot when it comes to community. Cating with players, and that’s going to be something that we’re going to have to smooth over for the time being, because we’re not going to fire a guy in week three, necessarily, right? So you kind of go look through that lens and but that’s where Jesse Minter like he doesn’t know exactly who he’s going to be as a head coach just yet, right? And that doesn’t mean you can’t be successful, let’s be very clear. I mean, John Harbaugh is a first year head coach who took his team to the AFC Championship with a rookie quarterback, right Mike McDonald, Brian Billick won Super Bowls in their second year. Those guys. Brian Billick would tell you that he didn’t have it all figured out in year two. I guarantee you that he learned things over the years that you know, and probably has even found out some things or realized some things after the fact that he looks back and say, Man, I wish I would have handled that differently. That might have made a difference from how I tried to go about doing it. That’s human. That’s life, right? We’re all humans. We don’t know everything. So, you know, a lot of that with Jesse Minter is just, you’re gonna have to, like, go through it. You know, that’s one of my areas of pause for this coaching staff is just Jesse Minter is a first year head coach. He’s also going to be calling plays, which I want you know like that. That’s why you hired him. Like, if you if he wasn’t going to hire, if he wasn’t going to call the defense, that’s kind of well, then why’d you hire a defensive minded head coach? You know what I mean? Like, that’s where you kind of get into that. On the flip side, he has Declan Doyle, who’s a first time play calling, offensive coordinator that right there alone, those two guys, alone with all the new that they’re

Nestor Aparicio  41:28

going through week one, and get all the plays in on time and execute it. That is an operational victory, even if they don’t win the game.

Luke Jones  41:36

Yeah, and let’s be clear, that doesn’t the Ravens won plenty of games over the years with John Harbaugh or Todd Monken or Greg Roman or Zach or or wink Martin. Go down the list of all the coordinators they had. They complain about the coordinator every week, if you want, right, even when you win. So Cameron is its own complaint. Yeah, none of this is to say that it has to be, the operation has to be perfect, right? It’s not going to be. And that’s not to say you can’t win games, despite that. Point is there’s a lot of new to navigate, and yeah, to your point, the spring is going to be so much of that’s building relationships, building rapport, installing the offense, understanding what you want in terms of beginning with lining up in the huddle, to everything you’re going to do in terms of your hots and protections and, like you know, all the football stuff, but so much of that is Minter is going to have to fine tune and find who he is not, who John horrible was not, Who Jim horrible was not what Mike McDonald is in Seattle, because it’s been successful, but Jesse Minter is going to have to find himself as the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, not the Chargers defensive coordinator, not Michigan’s defensive coordinator, and that’s going to take some time and for me, or for you, or for even Eric da Costa or Steve bashati to sit there and say that they know exactly how it’s going to go. You don’t. Jesse Minter doesn’t know exactly how it’s going to go. That said, they clearly have a lot of conviction. I’ve liked what I’ve heard so far, as far as what it’s worth, which isn’t very much, but the work starts here in a couple of weeks, when guys get in the building. And to your point, you know, your greater, the greatest, you know, the biggest point that you made that will begin with, yeah, where is Lamar Jackson fitting into all that? And if you have him and Hamilton and roquan and all the guys you view as leaders on this team, the quicker those guys buy in, everyone else will fall in line, you know, like, those are the guys that you need to have the buy in from right away. And that’s where, you know, that’s where the most important work is going to be done this spring. Not so much what play they’re running, you know, in their you know, what plays are running on the first OTA. It’s, you know, how are you doing in terms of building that because if you lay that foundation, it becomes that much easier to figure out the rest of that stuff as the offseason goes on.

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Nestor Aparicio  44:07

All right, we’re rolling our sleeves up here with our partners at Farnham and Dermer, the comfort guys, as well as our friends at the Maryland lottery, GBMC. We’re doing the Maryland crab cake tour three times in the next 10 days, beginning next week, around my dad’s birthday. I am a man of letters. In March, I’m going to be writing letters to Jesse Minter and John Harbaugh and Craig Albernaz and Michael Elias and Katie Griggs and Mr. Rubenstein on his ask him about that Epstein thing. I probably won’t get that opportunity to do that. I am Nestor. We are W NST AM, 1570 Towson, Baltimore, hoping that the Lamar contract is your next. WNS, T techs, we send you back for more right after this you.